Explosive California wildfires could burn into December

California’s wildfires have already made plenty of news this summer, and the worst may be yet to come

LOS ANGELES -- Smoke from California’s wildfires choked people on the East Coast. Flames wiped out a gold rush-era town. Ash covers area that would dwarf Rhode Island. Images of homes engulfed in flames and mountains glowing like lava would make it easy to conclude the Golden State is a charred black landscape. That’s hardly the case, but the frightening reality is that the worst may be yet to come. California has already surpassed the acreage burned at this point last year, which ended up setting the record. Now it’s entering a period when powerful winds have often driven the deadliest blazes.